Currently electrical contacts or wire contacts are used to terminate wire. Wire contacts require a strong mechanical means of attaching to the wire to create a permanent termination and a means to mate to a mating contact to make an electrical connection. For example, a wire contact may have a crimp end for terminating to the wire and a male or female mating end. Some contacts may be developed from metal strip or pre-plated metal strip, which is stamped and then folded or formed into the appropriate shape.
One type of wire contact comprises crimping the wire strands to a conductive terminal. These contacts, such as “F” style crimp wire contacts, comprise a terminal box or mating portion, a crimp portion and a transition portion or zone between the mating portion and the crimp portion. The transition portion of most “F” crimp wire contacts require low walls to aid in forming the crimp portion. These contacts pose two problems. The first problem is that when thin strip material is used in the manufacture of the contacts, the transition region is prone to tearing or shearing of the material at the front of the crimp barrel. The second problem is that the low walls allow the wire strands to become strayed, which results in seal damage by tearing, slicing, or removing gland material from mat seals.
Therefore, what is needed is a design that does not allow the strands of the wire barrel to separate between the crimp and the rear of the terminal box and extend outside of the desired area.